Chrysanthemum
by Kinzupa
Summary: Kiku has been mistreated by her parents for as long as she could remember, and the one person who was ever kind to her passed away. Now that a mysterious group looking for a key has surfaced and promises everything Kiku has ever wanted, what will happen when she joins them?
1. Chapter 1

**This is the newest version of Chrysanthemum! I hope you like it, I tried my best to make more edits to make it more enjoyable to read…I know I was skipping around A LOT in the last story, and this time, I found out a better way to make the story make more sense…anyways, please read and review pls! Also, if you absolutely must know, there is a little bit of abuse and violence along with a very small amount of coarse language.**

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 **On Diamond Island (four years after Ging left to take the Hunter Exam)**

Kiku was born on December 1, an only child to a wealthy, loving couple who were currently housing their mother. Well, the couple loved each other. The couple actually hated Kiku, they hated having to take care of her and their mother, and if they could, they would've kicked their mom out, and leave her somewhere on the streets of the nearby village. At first, Kiku didn't even have a name. But while the couple was out, or they were asleep, Kiku's grandmother took care of her, and made sure that Kiku didn't wake up her parents. Eventually, Kiku ended up staying in her grandmother's room, and her grandmother taught her how to walk, how to talk, even how to use the bathroom. As Kiku grew, her grandma became her mom, and she loved her in place of her actual mom. A few more years passed, and Kiku had to help her parents with everything, including the bills. She worked in the diamond mines their island was known for, and she grew strong. After a hard day of work for the four year old, coming home wasn't any better. Her parents would already be asleep or at the bar, and Kiku would make meals for herself and her grandmother who would stay up just for Kiku. After they were done eating, they would watch the sun set behind the chrysanthemum fields and talk about anything and everything. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, and her grandmother had already grown very old and had to leave the next year. Grief, grief, and more grief was all Kiku could feel, even some resentment toward her parents who were actually a little cheerful behind their fake sorrowful masks. Unfortunately for Kiku, their feelings toward her remained the same, and she was forced to work for the family and do independent studies on her own without help from her "loving" parents. The only loving thing about them is their love for each other and their alcohol, and loving to throw the empty glasses at Kiku when they were drunk. The first few times, Kiku was unable to dodge the glasses in time and a few would hit her arms and leave deep gashes from the broken glass in her forearms from where she tried to block her face.

Fortunately or unfortunately, (depending on how you look at it) Kiku grew used to their drunk attacks and could bear with the pain and could block out the nasty things they would spit at her like, "You're such a mistake." And what really pissed her off at first was, "You have a face not even a mother could love." Well, Kiku never could take care of herself, she worked in a mine for crying out loud, but when she took baths, she made sure all the grime was off, she smelled okay, and her hair was always brushed and in a ponytail. If there was something Kiku could do to make sure she was decent, she did it, and she just couldn't understand why her parents couldn't show even a little respect towards her. She didn't do anything wrong. But soon she grew impartial to anything they said or did, but when they did say and do these things, she didn't lie to herself; She knew she hated them, and she knew that if given the chance, she would fly far, far away from here like baby birds do after they grow up. However, no matter what she did could cover the scars from her parents, so she had to wear long sleeved clothes even when it was scorching hot in the mine, she couldn't reveal to her co-workers what kind of life she had at home. She just had to wait for her chance for when she was old enough to leave hell for good. That time came even earlier than she expected.

 **First POV:**

I continued walking home as usual, when I noticed a pillar of smoke coming from where my house was, and I noticed that there were a few villagers running over. I jogged up to the house, and when I got there, the house was a mound of ash and a few people were shouting my dreaded parents names. There was no response. I walked over to the ash, and I could hear a few villagers saying that they were sorry for my loss, and that they couldn't save anything, that everything was burnt to a crisp. I didn't really care about the material items, I still had my sweater and change of clothes in my small backpack and my money from work, so there wasn't anything in the house that I needed. What I did wonder was where my parents were, if they were at a bar or if they burned in the house as well. I sat in my front lawn for a while and the villagers were gone by then, and the sun was about to set. Then I felt someone behind me, and I was about to turn around when I noticed that there was a slight sting on my neck and realized that something sharp was waiting to cut my neck.

"By any chance, are you related to the couple that lived here?" A creepy voice asked.

"Yes. Why?" I asked.

"Just wondering." The voice answered, and the sharp thing was put away, and a sharp chop followed right after on my neck.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" I asked, rubbing my neck, now staring at a creepy clown looking person who now wore a very surprised face.

"Well that's surprising. I'm sure I hit the point." He said almost in a daze.

"What do you need? I was just sitting here and you decide to hit me, so what do you want?"

"Could you follow me and answer a few questions then?"

"Yeah. You could've just asked." I answered and stood up facing the clown. "What's your name?"

"Hisoka. Now follow me~." He said and turned so that he was now heading towards the forest surrounding the mountain I worked in. We continued walking in the forest for a while until we came to a sort of clearing. In the clearing stood three other people and another two who were on their knees appearing to be bawling their eyes out.

"WE DON'T KNOW WHERE IT IS SO LEAVE US ALONE!" A voice I knew I recognized but just couldn't put a finger on it. "WHY DON'T YOU ASK OUR DAUGHTER? THAT LITTLE KNOW IT ALL PROBABLY KNOWS!" That was when I realized. It was my all so loving father.

"Maybe I will." A tall pale guy with black hair responded coolly and turned to me. "I am Kuroro. Are you their daughter?"

"Yeah. Why?" I asked, genuinely curious about what he wanted. I really had nothing worth anything.

"We are looking for a key that their mom had. Do you know where it is?" He didn't really ask, he actually demanded where it was. Then I remembered the key my grandmother always had around her neck. She gave it to me before she passed away, and now I wore it, but it was the last thing I have to remember her by, and I was not going to give it to them willingly.

"Yeah, but why do you want it?"

"We need it for something. Could we have it?"

"No. Why should I give it to you?" I asked resisting the need to put my hand where the key was. I had to let them believe that I didn't have the key on me.

"We'll let you live." He added.

"I'd rather die." I said, dead serious.

"SEE? THAT FREAKING KNOW IT ALL DOES KNOW WHERE IT IS, AND TO TOP IT OFF SHE'S A SUICIDAL BITCH! WHY DON'T YOU K—" My mom was about to say "kill her," but the small chinese looking guy behind her swiftly cut off her head to stop her from talking.

"WHAT THE HELL? She didn't do ANYTHING so why the hell did you kill her? You could've killed the kid instead." My father asked getting very pissed off, I could tell cause on some parts he became quiet.

"Because she was too noisy." The chinese guy said and walked over to stand next to Kuroro who turned towards me.

"Then would you like to make a deal? I think I'm starting to understand this situation a little better." Kuroro said.

"Yeah." I said, glad one of the burdens was finally gone.

"If you give us the key, I will get you off this island, and I can make sure you don't have to work in a mine anymore and you don't have to worry about people like them." He said gesturing to my mother's head and my angry father.

"Deal, but can I kill my father too?" I asked, since I wouldn't have to stay here, there was no point in me keeping him alive.

"Sure," he said with a smile.

"Sounds like a plan." I said, dropping the key into his hand and walking over to where my father was. _Two birds with one stone. Lucky me!_ I internally smiled. The blond guy who was standing behind him looked at me they walked over to stand next to Kuroro just like the chinese guy. I stood right behind my father, and without hesitation and without listening to my father's pleas, I placed my hands on either side of his viciously shaking head and cranked his head around hard until I heard the satisfying pop of his neck breaking. Then I stood back and watched his body slump to the ground.

"Welcome to the Spider." I heard Kuroro say, and I looked up to see all but Kuroro looking at me with surprise and I realized that I was smiling…I was smiling. I thought I forgot how to smile after my grandma died, but I guess I didn't. I walked over to Kuroro with my small backpack secure on my back. _I finally get to leave, and I don't have to deal with monsters like these people anymore._ I thought to myself, and the group proceeded to walk through the forest towards the ship yard.

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 **How's that for a first chapter? I hope you liked it, so please Review, it would really help if you could point out mistakes and whatnot.**

 **~Kinzupa~**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ayeee, it's another chapter! Yay! I have no life, so I figured I might as well bring to life something that I actually like! Remember to Review!**

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As we made our way to the ports, I had picked up that the Chinese guy's name was Feitan, and the tall blonde guy is Phinks, cause during the walk, they kept on arguing about something, and as I tagged along behind them, the kept gesturing to me and saying stuff like enhancer and conjurer when Hisoka joined in and said stuff and how I was a specialist or something. I don't even know. Then they went and started saying stuff like, "I wonder what's worse, Ryusegai, or her life?" I don't even know where Ryusegai is, but if they are comparing it to what they witnessed in the clearing, it must be bad. That was when Kuroro whispered something to Phinks who jeered and fell back to walk next to me.

"Hey, I just got orders, so this might hurt just a little." He said, then he placed a hand on my shoulder, and all of a sudden, I felt warm, and I noticed that there was this weird smoke, steam, floating thing coming out from my arms, and after I realized how weird it looked, I tried imagining the smoke getting sucked into my pores slowly and eventually all the white stuff was gone, and I looked up to see very surprised faces just staring at me, even Phinks who was standing next to me looked so surprised and he even stopped walking for a second before gaining back his composure and quickening his pace. The group continued in silence as we approached a moderately sized boat, which was already ready to go with crew men hustling around and a Captain barking orders.

"We are heading to Ryusegai…I have ordered the other members to assemble there." Kuroro said.

"All of us?" Phinks asked.

"Yes." Kuroro answered.

"It's been a while since all the members have assembled." Phinks said to himself, but everyone could hear him.

"Kiku, on the way there, I expect you to be training your nen. Phinks can teach you." Kuroro said, and I had absolutely no idea what Nen was, but as soon as I turned to Phinks, he was staring at Kuroro like he was just told to pick up poop or something. Soon after, the boat started moving out from the port, and we were on our way. By then, Phinks went back to normal and looked at me.

"Fine then." Phinks said, and turned to me. "Okay. Well, Nen is basically like your aura and your life force. Uh, I guess first you should try and focus the white stuff in your hands, and then we can go from there." Phinks said, then went to sit down on an overturned crate. I stood there, and tried to summon the white stuff which instantly appeared, then I tried to focus the warmth in my body to my hands. Then I walked over to Phinks and poked him.

"Ow! Oh, you figured it out already. Okay then. Uhh…" Phinks said while scratching his head. Okay, well then I'll teach you the four principles. Well, you already know how to use Zetsu, and I'm sure you can use Ten, so I guess you can try Ren. Try to let the aura flow naturally, then spike it without letting it fly away. It helps if you think about fighting someone.

"Okay." I said, then I slowly let the aura flow, and then I tried my best to make it bigger, and I imagined fighting my dad, and quickly enough, the aura took on a pokey form, and it turned this electric blue color. I looked to Phinks for instructions, but he just stared with a gaping mouth. From his reaction, I figured I did it right, so I went back to seeping the aura back.

"I guess you know how to use Ren then, so…" Phinks said, and shuffled around for a glass and he filled it up with water and placed a leaf on the top. Since the boat was rocking, some of the water spilled, but Phinks didn't seem to care. "Try to put your aura into the glass through your hands." He said, and I did as I was told. After a few moments, the leaf began to shift into a red chrysanthemum which then melted into what looked like blood. After the transformation was finished, Phinks looked defeated. "Dammit, Hisoka was right." And he tossed a coin backwards to where Hisoka caught it and Feitan did the same. It appeared as though they made a bet and Hisoka won, but I didn't even know what they bet on.

"Well, I guess you should think about what you want your aura to do. Since you're a specialist, I don't really know what your ability is, so I guess you should just experiment. Since the leaf changed form and property, you should try something along those lines." Phinks said, then he went back to his makeshift chair and stared off to where the island was only beginning to fade.

"Kuroro, how long will it take to get there?" I asked.

"Maybe about a week. It should be enough time to master your Nen at the pace you're learning at." Kuroro answered reading a book I didn't even realize he had. I sat back against the side of the ship, and I was thinking about what Phinks said. _It changed form and property…I wonder if…_ I figured I could change a part of my body by adding something onto it and adding the property of whatever I thought I needed. So, I started with my hands. I imagined the skin getting hard, and my finger nails becoming claws. Soon, I noticed that my hands turned into metal and the nail were indeed extremely sharp. I turned and lightly scratched the wood of the boat, but instead the nails cut straight through it like butter and I almost cut a chunk of the boat out. I figured it wasn't safe, so I changed my hands back to normal. Then, I noticed a few seagulls flying above the ship and had an idea. I focused my aura between my shoulder blades, and I imagined the skin and one of the bones from that area, growing white and feathery, then elongating into two, wings exactly like those of the seagulls flying above. It took a bit of concentration to get the bones to where I knew they had to go after learning a lot about body systems of different animals including birds because I had a little bit of free time and I already learned everything I needed to know for people my age. Eventually, I opened my eyes to a very, VERY surprised deckhand and Hisoka. Then I looked to my sides and saw two very fluffy, realistic looking wings folded by my sides. Testing them out, I attempted to open both wings, and as if I had always had wings, the moved exactly to my will. On accident, my wings caught a little bit of wind and I was lifted right up and off the deck. Surprised, I was very flustered, and I had a very hard time staying straight, but luckily, before I hit the water, I figured out how to flap my wings to go higher. In the air, I realized how fun it was, and so I started to turn this way and that, and I soon mastered the controls and I was heading back to the ship where I lightly landed back on the floor and everyone standing there was very shocked, and one of the guys passed out. When I looked to Kuroro, there was a sly grin on his face before he went back to reading his book. Hisoka on the other hand, was creepily smiling at me, and continued staring at me for a while until he went back to shuffling his cards. A chill ran up my spine and before I knew it, I had felt my wings catching a little bit of air, and I had to fold them in closer so I wouldn't go flying off like the first time. When I turned to Phinks, he wasn't looking at my face, but he was looking at something directly next to me. I looked, and there was nothing there.

"Your arm." He said, and I looked at where my sleeve must have ridden up a little bit, but enough so you could see the scars from the bottles my parents threw. I immediately covered them up, but from the look on Phinks' face, I knew that scars weren't meant to be permanently tattooed on eight year old kids, and so I went to sit back down, and my wings went and folded around me so I could lean on the boat. After realizing how fluffy my wings were, I decided on changing their color, since white was so noticeable, I changed it to black. Starting from my back, each feather slowly turned black, and eventually, the whole wing was complete. And I snuggled into my cocoon which also appeared to be water proofed after a few waves splashed over onto the deck. Thankfully, my bag was covered, and my cocoon was completely sealed in feathery squishiness. Soon after, I was drifting off to sleep. I didn't dream, as usual. When I woke up, I could hear some voices, and so I peeked out from my wings to see Hisoka standing there.

"What's going on?" I asked, still drowsy.

"You slept for a week. We have arrived already~." Hisoka said, backing away and letting my stand up to stretch out from my aching bones, and attempting to place my bag behind and around my wings.

"Okay. Ready." I said, and I walked off the boat slightly surprised at how sturdy the ground felt.

"Gee. You hibernated the whole voyage, and you didn't even eat. Do you need anything?" Phinks asked, and I shook my head. I was used to not eating. My parents weren't exactly that responsible when it came to feeding their kid. They weren't responsible at all when it came to anything involving Kiku. And since Kiku was sleeping, her body didn't use much water or food, so Kiku actually felt perfectly fine.

"Where is Ryusegai?" I asked.

"Over there." Kuroro responded, pointing towards a very undeveloped area of land a couple miles away. As we started walking, I remembered my wings, and I took off, flying directly above the group, sometimes going father forward then flying in circles until the group caught up. After a good while longer, I noticed some people running around in rags, and one of them tried to shoot at me with a sling shot, but I easily avoided it. As we continued the procession, I noticed an actual group of people wearing actual clothes gathered near a very broken down two story building. When we got there, I landed a little behind Kuroro, and a few of the people who were already there were looking at me like I was crazy. It was silent for a bit, and Kuroro finally spoke.

"This is Kiku. I have invited her to join the Spider." He said calmly. That was when everything spiraled into motion.

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 **Two chapters in a niiigghhhttt! I tried to make sure I didn't make any mistakes, but I'm human, so if you notice anything wrong, pleeasseee let me know so I don't end up with a bad chapter just chilling around waiting to be edited, but that I don't know that it needs to be edited, so please. For the love of anime, please review and let me know if there is something wrong. Thanks!**

 **~Kinzupa~**


	3. Chapter 3

**If this chapter ends up being short, I'll try to put up another chapter, but I really need you guys to Review so I know if you guys actually like this story…if you don't, please PM me and give me some suggestions, I'd reeeeally appreaciate it. Plese enjoy!**

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When I looked around at the adult group's faces, aside from those who had brought me here, the rest looked astonished, surprised, one was actually smiling, and the other was completely wrapped in bandages, so I couldn't tell. As we all stared in silence, Kuroro nudged me as if encouraging me to say something.

"Uh, Hi. I'm Kiku and I'm from Diamond Island…Um, nice to meet you?" I said, getting nervous near the end after looking at the emotions splayed across all of their faces. And after what felt like forever, someone _finally_ spoke.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Shalnark by the way. How old are you?" The smiling one asked.

"I'm eight." I answered, but I figured it would be rude to ask how old he was even though he looked really young…maybe early twenties? Maybe younger?

"Really? That's incredible! Do you know Nen?"

"Um, yeah." I said, slightly disturbed by his endless cherriness.

"Have you developed a Hatsu?" He asked. The questions just kept coming.

"Uh, yeah." I answered, and I gestured to my wings that I still had on my back.

"I guess that was a dumb question. Do you know how to do anything else?"

"I can change my hands, but I can't change my aura…I haven't tried much else other than altering my own flesh." Shalnark seemed to think for a bit, then reached behind him and grabbed a plank of broken wood.

"Try changing this into something." He said while offering the plank to me.

"Okay." I said, and after smothering the plank with my aura, I attempted to change the plank into a knife. It did become a knife, but it was still the same length as the plank.

"Cool." This big guy said as he lumbered over. I was slightly intimidated, but he didn't seem to want to kill me. "I'm Uvogin. Can you change someone else?"

"I can try." I answered. He offered his hand to me. Silently, I tried to smother his hands in my aura, but since his arm had it's own will, and wasn't easily controlled by me, I couldn't change his hands. "I guess not." I answered, backing away a little.

"Good to know." Uvogin said thoughtfully and moved back to the group. Right after he joined the rest, a lady with pink hair stepped forward.

"I'm Machi." She said while nodding towards my wings.

"Hi." I responded, and she backed into the group again. This continued until all the members had introduced themselves.

"Now that you've all been acquainted, I needed to have a meeting with you all to decide what to do with Kiku. We already have twelve members, and I don't see the need to kick anyone out or add another leg." Kuroro spoke up so all the members could hear. Slightly softer he added, "Continue training outside until someone calls you back in." Kuroro said and the group retreated into the broken building. I stood outside a little confused, but I shrugged my shoulders and went off in search of materials. I wanted to test the full extent of my abilities. After I found a nice sized rock, I tried to change the properties to that of bread, and then I attempted to change the shape to that of a loaf of bread. The transformation was successful, and after being able to easily tear off a piece of the former rock, I took a cautious bite. Luckily, it tasted almost exactly like bread. It still had a little bit of dirt on it, but it tasted like bread and since there weren't any nasty side effects in my stomach after consuming the former rock, I deemed the experiment successful. _I wonder if the Troupe would like some food._ I thought to myself, and I decided that it would be okay if I tried to contribute some stuff to the people who seemed nice enough towards me. I searched around for a larger rock which I turned into a basket, and I searched for smaller items which I turned into different foods. I tested the items first before placing them in the basket, and they all tasted pretty good. After gathering all of the items, I remembered to try and get a little training in. After finding a couple of arm length planks, I turned them into wooden knives. Placing this pair under my arm, I carried the basket back to the building and placed it in the shade of the torn roof and walked away to find a pillar worthy of becoming a mannequin for my training. As soon as I found a decently sized one, I tried to remember the books that I would read on different forms of fighting, and I tried to remember how to wield knives. After realizing that I only read about backhanded knives, I decided to train that way. I also made the stone pillar a little soft so I could practice throwing the knives and practicing slicing up the pillar like I would a human. It was tough, but I could tell all these people were incredibly strong, so I had to catch up to them. Faster, harder, more precise, these were the things I was honing.

After training for a while, I built up a sweat, and the pillar was barely standing now. My aim became nearly perfect, and my jabs and slices were much stronger than before. So much more, that in the next jab, the pillar would fall. Right after the final hit, I heard someone calling my name and I flew back to the broken building. In the entry way stood Shalnark waving at me and I couldn't help but internally groan at his enthusiasm. Once I landed, Shalnark was still smiling but he was now holding out the basket I prepared out to me.

"I made that for you guys." I answered, and he smiled even bigger.

"Thanks Kiku, you're awesome!" He answered _very_ cheerfully.

"So what's the verdict?"

"Ask the others. I actually slept through most of the meeting." He said and scratched his head like a little kid would when asked a question they didn't know the answer to.

"Okay." I said, and I walked into the building. After my eyes adjusted to the lighting, I saw all pairs of eyes on me except for Kuroro's…he was reading a book.

"Welcome to the Troupe." Uvogin said, then he went off to go and talk to a few of the other members.

"Thanks." I responded, smiling the best I could to act more my age.

"Yay! Kiku's part of the group now!" Shalnark said as if I hadn't said anything. A few others said their congratulations but not nearly as enthusiastically as Shalnark. The lady named Pakunoda walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I swatted her hand away.

"Don't touch me." I said immediately, and after a few brief moments, she frowned and looked a little surprised, and then she finally spoke. "I can search people's memories…I'm sorry about your previous life, but everyone here understands that. None of us had a good life before this." She said slowly appearing to get lost in her own memories…probably of her life before the Troupe. Then she walked away and I was just standing next to Machi.

"You're a cute girl. Why do you want to join the Troupe?" She asked.

"You guys are amazing, and nice. Kuroro gave me an excuse to excape from hell, and I need to learn much more, and get stronger. I won't let anything like my last eight years happen again." I answered.

"I don't know about amazing. But I definetly know we're not _nice._ "

"Why is that?" I asked.

"We've committed so many crimes, hell is the only thing that awaits us after this life."

"I don't think hell would be too bad. It just isn't heaven."

"You just made hell sound so much more appealing." Machi said looking at me with amusement.

"I didn't try to, I'm just stating the truth." I answered in complete honesty.

"I know I don't hate you now, that's for sure. Do you want to partner up?"

"Why not. But don't you already have a partner?"

"Yeah, Nobunaga. But he's so dull." She said with a huff. Then I noticed another presence just behind me.

"Actually, I was going to have her partner up with me since all the groups have been set up. I need surveillance for this next mission, and Kiku seems to be the best at surveillance since she can fly." Kuroro said as if he was listening to the whole conversation.

"Fine. But I hope I work with Kiku in future missions." Machi said.

"You can have her tag along with you after this mission. She doesn't necessarily have a home yet."

"I wish, but I can't. I have some business."

"I see. Then I will remember to group you two together in the future." Kuroro said, and he walked back to a stone ledge where a few books were laying.

"I guess not then. It was nice meeting you." Machi said, and she proceeded to walk to the group of people who were talking about god only knows what. Since I was alone, I walked outside and flew to the roof of the building, and sat there staring that the setting sun, imagining the fields she used to tend to. Once the sun had set on Ryusegai, I grabbed one of the sheet metal slabs and turned it into a futon mattress which I layed on the roof. I felt drowsy after the craziness that happened today. While wrapped in my midnight black wings, I drifted off into unconsciousness.

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 **I think that was a pretty long chapters. About three pages in Microsoft Word…anyways, I don't know if I'll be able to update soon, but I am not going to be deleting this story any time soon, so please don't worry 'bout that. Remember to Review and I'll try my best to have another chapter up soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Choreography camp just ended, and I have a few more hours of daylight left, and school starts in another week, and I might have trouble updating after that, soooooo I'm sorry if this ends up to be a poopy chapter, but believe me, I'm trying my best! I edited the previous chapters, so if you read those chapters before this one was uploaded, I advise you to read those, so that the story makes more sense in general…there were a few parts in the story line that didn't make sense, and some other parts that were just bothering me…so ye, Enjoy!**

I woke to the sun rising on the opposite side of the building, the bright light filtering between my wings. When I managed to stretch out all the kinks in my body, I jumped down to the bottom floor of the building to see almost everyone waking up.

"So you're an early riser eh, Kiku?" Shalnark asked…in my opinion, WAY too cheery for six in the morning.

"I guess." I responded, still a little drowsy.

"Do you want to train with me? I still have to improve my hand to hand combat." He offered.

"Yeah sure." I agreed, and I followed him out of the building to a clearing…it was a ring of trash circling an area of dirt and maybe a few rocks…not the most ideal training ground, but it was something. "When do we start?" I asked.

"Now." Shalnark said after a moments hesitation. He bolted forward attempting to land the first hit. Unfortunately for him, my years of avoiding glass bottles being thrown at me made it easy for me to evade every single one of his attacks. Right when Shalnark seemed to get tired from constantly trying to hit me, as soon as he swooped in for a hit, I jabbed the pressure point in his hand and he jolted from the impact. When he stepped back, he could no longer use his hand. "The heck? You're awesome Kiku! When did you learn to fight?"

"I never did." I responded, bored. "Should we continue?"

"Yeah." Shalnark said, revving himself up.

"You get the first shot." I said, standing as relaxed as I could so I could focus. He lunged forward faster than the first time, but since he could only use one hand it was even easier to avoid his attacks. A few more strikes later, and I hit the pressure point in his other arm.

"Damn it Kiku. How the heck do you manage to hit the pressure point in my arm? I swear even Kuroro may not even be able to do that. Then again, I don't see why he would need to. If someone tries to kill him, he'd kill them before they even had a chance." Shalnark said rambling on and on about this and that, and every single thing other than what's happening in the present.

"Okay then. Should we head back?" I said.

"Yeah sure. I'll need to rest a bit so my arms fix themselves." Shalnark said while awkwardly trying to jog back to the base with his arms swinging weirdly at his sides. When we made it to the base, Shalnark immediately started talking up a storm, and after he shared the information of our training, all of the Spiders looked at me surprised.

"You beat him?" Franklin asked.

"Yeah." I responded.

"And you're eight years old."

"Yeah."

"And you never fought before."

"Yeah."

"Huh." Franklin said to himself, and he sat back.

"Can I fight you? Or are you too tired." Phinks asked.

"Sure, I needed to train while Shalnark gets his feeling in his hands back. I'm not that fast, I could just predict where his punches would land, so I need to get faster before I meet someone who's faster than me." I responded, already beginning to walk to the training grounds. However, unline the first time, all of the members aside from Kuroro followed us. They all found seats in the trash, and they all were ready to watch the fight.

"Ready?" Phinks asked, already in position to attack.

"Yeah." I said, standing relaxed. As soon as the last letter left my lips, Phinks was halfway to where I was standing, and his first attack was a dozen times faster and stronger than Shalnark's attack…clearly, Phinks was on a whole other level from Shalnark, but even so, flying objects have a harder to calculate position, whereas someone's body could give away every attack seconds before they attack and where that attack will hit. And so, before Phinks' fist was even close to connecting, I quickly jumped out of his hit range. After that, he smiled and began running to attack again, but this time, I dodged his fist, but stayed close enough so he was still an arm's length away, and I hit the pressure point in his arm.

"Damn. I thought I was fast enough so you couldn't hit it easily, but yet there you go." Phink said, looking disappointed at his arm.

"Sorry. Do you still want to fight?" I asked.

"Yeah sure. But this time, don't hold back. Try to attack me." Phinks said tauntingly.

"Okay." I answered, and I readied my wings. "Don't get mad." I said a moment before I flew straight up to the sun, and I used the brightness from the sun to hide my body. Once I was out of sight, I enabled my Zetsu and dove down from a different angle to get behind him, and with the force of gravity and boost from my wings, I was at ground level with Phinks. Before he could turn around to defend himself, I had jabbed the pressure point in his neck, and he slumped to the ground. Even though he was lying down, his face was to the side, and he was smiling.

"That was a boring fight, but I want to fight you again." He said, smiling with his face half covered in the dirt.

"I'll take that as a compliment." I said, and Franklin was already by Phinks' side trying to hoist his huge body over his shoulder.

"I wouldn't stand a chance in an unarmed battle, and you're pretty talented." Franklin said as he started walking to the base.

"Thanks." I said.

"It's hard to believe that you haven't fought before." Machi yelled from her seat in the ring of trash. "I can't believe Kuroro just wants you to be surveillance, you could make this job go a whole lot faster. If you were a major part in this job, would you be able to kill?" Machi asked.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?" I asked, tilting my head.

"You're a kid. I don't think that you'd be able to kill someone."

"I already have. What difference does a few more lives make?" I asked. Machi looked surprised.

"Who did you kill?"

"My father."

"Why?"

"Kuroro asked me to."

"Now I know why you joined." Machi responded as if my one statement made the whole difference in the world.

"Who have you killed?"

"Too many to remember. If you stay with us, you won't remember either."

"I don't mind that too much."

"Then I look forward to working with you."

"Likewise." I responded, and I took off flying back to the base. When I made it inside, Kuroro was still sitting in his usual spot reading another book.

"I heard that you beat Phinks and Shalnark. That's impressive." He said, his nose still buried in his book. "In the next job, I'll make sure you're on the front lines, but for this first one, you need to see how the jobs work."

"Okay." I responded, jumping up onto a ledge to sit down. After seeing all the members stand in the center of the room looking expectantly at Kuroro, I knew that the job would start today.

"That settles it then. We will be raiding a small village I saw. It turns out that their eyes are one of the most beautiful colors in the world when excited. I'm hoping to get _all_ of them. If we monopolize their eyes, we can make more money than we ever have."

"Which direction is it in?" Feitan asked.

"Two hundred kilometers to the West." Shalnark said, typing viciously into his computer…at least his arms healed quickly.

"Sounds great. It's been a while since we've been able to run to our job. And it isn't too far away either." Phinks said.

"Do I sit this one out Danchou?" Franklin asked.

"You can take the balloon. We'll need to bring the eyes back here before we auction them off."

"How many villagers are there Shal?" Machi asked.

"Roughly fifty. Most are trained in martial arts, so it may become difficult to harvest their eyes." Shalnark said as a matter of factly as if he was talking about a random fact he found online.

"Shouldn't be a problem either way. When do we start heading there?" Machi asked Kuroro.

"As soon as you're ready." Kuroro said, putting down his book.

"Wanna race to the village?" Phinks asked, then he added. "Except you Kiku. I have nothing against you, but you have wings."

"That's fine, it makes sense. I'll just head over first and I'll be the refree." I said beginning to walk over to the entry way.

"Sounds like a plan." Phinks said. As I began flying West, I heard someone shout "Go!" and all of a sudden, a cloud of dust erupted from the building, and I saw all the members aside from Kuroro running not too far behind me already. Seeing this, I picked up my pace to be slightly in front of the racing procession, and well out of the way of the dust they picked up. Slowly, their speeds spaced them apart, and the two in front were Phinks and Feitan. It sort of made sense, since they always seemed to be competing with each other. But even then, it was incredible that they could stay at the same pace for as long as they have. It was as if they weren't human; although, humans don't normally start heading to a village to gouge out their eyes. As I continued flying overhead, the two in front weren't letting up, and they didn't even seem to be trying. Since I was flying, it was easy; they were running, and I have no idea where the heck they have all of that energy from. When I saw a forest within eyesight, I flew ahead of the race, and landed at the edge. Not even half a minute later, Phinks and Feitan came rushing to a stop just beyond where I was standing. They looked to me.

"Feitan won." I said. Even though they were close, I could clearly see Feitan cross the line before Phinks.

"Looks like I'm still winning." Feitan said.

"Oh shut up Fei, I'll get you next time."

"Racing back?"

"You bet your ass." Phinks said. All of a sudden, Kuroro appeared next to us.

"Who won?" He asked.

"Feitan." Phinks said, defeated.

"Again?" Kuroro asked amused.

"Yeah."

"Isn't that 100-80?" Kuroro asked, teasing Phinks.

"Is not! It is 100-79." Phinks said defensively.

"Not for long." Kuroro said. After Phinks finished throwing a hissy fit, the rest of the group made it, and everyone gathered in front of Kuroro.

"I need all twelve of you to head straight into the village. Contact me right before you enter." Kuroro said. "Remember to get their eyes scarlet before you kill them."

"Yes Danchou." All of them said before dispersing instantaneously.

"Once they call us, I'll need you to fly up and make sure no one escapes. If someone does escape, catch them and bring them to me."

"Sure thing." Almost a minute later, and Danchou's phone rang and I took off straight into the air to get a birds eye view of the entire forest. I had the whole perimeter under my surveillance, and even if the villagers saw me, it was far too late. No one would escape.

 **I guess I should leave it there…Please review! The more reviews, the higher the chance of me updating…it's more motivation to stay up late and actually upload another chapter. Anyways, hope you enjoyed, and let me know if I have any grammatical errors so I can fix them right away. Thanks!**

 **~Kinzupa~**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry that I haven't updated in literally forever. But I will try my hardest in the future to update daily. Unfortunately, my schedule just keeps on getting busier, and today is my only day off this week, plus next week which I definitely can't update…since that stuff is cleared, I want to mention that Kiku's power is very similar to that of Alchemists in Fullmetal Alchemists in that she has to have something to transform, but she can change the property unlike having to have the properties when performing Alchemy. Since all of the formalities are over, let us begin!**

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As I began to hear yells and shouts from the village, I could see the outlines of my comrades rounding up small groups of Kurutas, and I could see Machi and her strings tying up and catching each Kuruta one by one, and two per second. It was amazing. These guys were incredible, and I could witness this beautiful massacre. Just as I was beginning to relax and enjoy the scene before me, I saw a couple run off into the forest where the leaves were so dense I could only see fleeting images of them slowly running to the outside of the forest. As soon as they were within range, I dove down to meet them. Unfortunately for them, my wings were agile and strong, and I could pick up both of them easily through the branches and back up into the sky before they even knew what was happening. As I was instructed, I hoisted the two to Kuroro, and after punching the woman, both pairs of eyes turned this scarlet red, and as soon as they did so, Kuroro had gauged the eyes out of their heads and let them writhe in agony at the loss of one of their appendages.

"You may want to conceal your aura. It's sort of noticeable." Kuroro said suddenly. Just then, I realized that some of my aura began seeping out and was turning a red color. "

"Sorry about that. I may have gotten a little excited." I said simply while continuing to return to Zetsu. When I took off to continue my surveillance, I saw that the village had lit up with the scarlet red of angry faces and fighting villagers. From before, this scene became even more beautiful. And in the course of roughly fifteen minutes, almost all of the Kurutas were either writhing or dead. But more importantly than these two simple observations, I could hear the melody of screams, shouts, cries, pleads, prayers, and a very subtle unsheathing of knives. It was pure bliss. And not too long later, the literal dead silence engulfed the whole forest, and I began to do my rounds, making sure that all of the Kurutas had been massacred. After I was finished, I flew down to meet with the troupe who were now organizing the eyes in jars and placing them into the balloon which Franklin had rode in.

"We're missing a pair." Kuroro was saying as I came into hearing range.

"We are? I could've sworn we got all the eyes." Phinks said.

"I didn't see anyone run away. Did you mess up while you were counting?" I asked, after figuring out the situation.

"I'm positive. I've recounted them three times over with the same number. Could one of them have been out of the forest today?" Kuroro asked Shalnark.

"I doubt it. These Kurutas are extremely isolated and never leave the forest according to the Hunter Website." Shalnark responded.

"What's the Hunter Website?" I asked, beginning to get lost.

"It's a secret website only available to certified hunters." Shalnark said while busily typing away at his computer.

"How can I get certified?" I asked.

"You'll have to take the Hunter Exam. But, you'll have to wait a bit…I think you should get a little stronger before then. You're already really strong, but you never know what to expect when you take the Hunter Exam." Shalnark explained quickly while attempting to multitask speaking and typing at the same time.

"It's less boring than chasing and killing all day, right?" I asked.

"It was pretty fun to me, but I think a little more training wouldn't hurt." Shalnark said again.

"What's so bad about taking the next Hunter Exam?" I asked beginning to get hurt because of Shalnarks underestimation and the fact that I had easily beat him during our last sparring match. Then Feitan walked past and under his breath so only I could hear, he whispered, "Hisoka will be participating again this next round."

"Oh. Well I don't mind." I said to Shalnark and Feitan, then I turned to Hisoka, "Could I join you when you leave for the Hunter Exam?"

"Sure, a friend of mine will be there as well~." He said, then began shuffling his cards.

"See? It'll be fine if I participate this year. I'll train while I wait, so don't worry. Is there anything I need to do here? Or can I start to head back to refree the next race?" I asked while preparing to take off.

"On the way back, make sure that Kuruta isn't still running around out there." Kuroro added.

"Yes Danchou." I said, and I swiftly took off and surveying the area at the same time. As I saw the hot air balloon begin to fly upwards filled with Franklin, and all of the eyes, I saw a cloud of dust rise from where the rest of the Troupe had begun to run. I picked up my speed a bit as soon as I determined that there were no Kurutas within range. Once I approached the building, I dove down to refree the race as they came rushing in within thirty seconds. Unfortunately for Phinks, Feitan won again.

"I will win one day Fei, just you wait." Phinks swore.

"I'll be waiting, but don't challenge me once I die." Feitan teased. Once the rest of the group arrived, we all proceeded into the building to receive debriefing from Kuroro when he suddenly flashed back in front of us.

"What's your ability?" I asked out of wonder. He smiled a bit, then he summoned a book with a bloody handprint.

"Bandits Secret. I collect abilities that I like. One of them is teleportation, and the others you will see sooner or later." He said, then he put his special book away. I was still a little lost, but I figured that I would figure out his ability at a later time. Following this, the long boring debriefing began, and once it was finished most of the Troupe members decided to sleep so that they could leave immediately the following morning to begin their own personal missions although a few were planning to stay in Ryusegai just for the heck of it. Since some were staying, I figured that I could train my Nen a little more. Maybe even develop another ability. With that in mind, I flew to the roof, and made myself a meal from a few of the nearby sticks and pebbles. Since the food I created hadn't had any affect on me other than feeding me, I figured I could continue to eat my Nen food. Unfortunately, I was still buzzing from the mission today, so I ended up playing around with my aura. For a couple minutes, I continued playing around with my aura, spiking it, then throwing a bit of it away from me. I almost hit Pakunoda who had jumped up to the roof to join me. In her hand she held what looked like a book.

"I know you want to train a little more before the Hunter Exam, so I found this book. It'll tell you everything else you need to know about Nen." She said and tossed the book to me.

"Thanks. Will you be leaving tomorrow morning?" I asked to make an effort at conversation.

"Yes. I have a mission I must attend to in roughly around a week." She said, and before I could respond or ask another question, she turned around and jumped down to the ground floor. Since her absence, I picked up the book and flipped it to a random page. It was titled, "Gyo." I read a little about it, and I found that it was merely focusing aura in my eyes in order to detect any aura hidden by "In." I read a little more about "In" after that, and I discovered that I could completely hide objects. I closed the book then, and I tried "In" on one of the sticks next to me. It said to continue the flow of aura, but to conceal it, and so I did. At first, it was fading in and out of vision, but after straining my concentration, I managed to hold it invisible. As soon as I did that, I cancelled it then tried it again, but this time I tried to make it invisible faster. I continued this for a while, until it was almost an instant reaction. It took longer than learning how to use my Hatsu, so I figured that I just wasn't very good at it. After that, I opened the book to the next page which was titled "En." According to the book, En was an expanded Ten, which could be shaped into a sphere or any shape. Anything within the shape of aura would and could be detected by the one using it. After absorbing this knowledge, I sat down and practiced. Being able to detect anything coming within range of me would be definitely helpful, and so I decided to master this before reworking on my "In." As I focused on my Ten, I then tried extending it out from my body. It was almost like trying to stretch really stiff gum using just my mind, and so I could only stretch it out millimeter by millimeter, inch by inch until it was a decent length away from me. I then opened my eyes to discover that my aura was a good yard and a half away from me. Deeming this enough, I undid it, and stretched my aura out again in an attempt to make it faster, easier, and farther away. To reach my last point was easy, but as I tried to stretch it out further, my progess slowed to a speed similar to that of a snail's. Once it was stretch another foot away, I held it there for a little longer, then cancelled it and repeated the process again and again until I was tired. By that time, it was around midnight, and so I read up on different specialists and different abilities that they were able to develop.

I realized that Kuroro was a specialist since his Nen didn't seem to fit into any category. I knew he had many different abilities, and Teleportation was one of them. Then I saw that there were even more known abilities and inborn talents like the guy who created the Ben's knives, and fortune telling, along with this weird man eating fish thing that was made completely out of aura. There was even some stuff in there about some things called Shadow Beasts who all had different abilities and all resembled weird, ugly creatures. It said that they were strong, so I memorized their abilities, but they're blood and flesh mustn't feel normal, nor pleasant so I subconsciously decided that I didn't want to fight them so I wouldn't have to feel their weird flesh. But then I had an idea. If I could develop an ability so that I could attack from long range, then I wouldn't have that problem. Right then, I started thinking up ideas, but then I came to the conclusion that it would probably make a small challenge whereas what happens if someone were to get into close-range. If that were to happen, I'd be in trouble. So I started thinking of different ideas. As I began thinking, I thought up three options. Either I could develop something that could be thrown far and used close, or I could use something to throw something hard or sharp but what I use to throw it can be used to fight close range or at least middle range as a final defense. Finally, I could create an unbelievably overpowered technique...I would have to place a restriction in order for this to work though. As I was busy thinking up ideas, I found myself becoming tired, and so I decided to get some rest and finish developing my ideas tomorrow. With that plan set in my mind, I curled into my cocoon of feathers, and fell asleep.

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 **Sorry, I kinda revised a lot of stuff...I hope it's okay, but I'm still having a bit of trouble finding time to do these kinds of things so it may be a while before I upload another chapter. Sorry 'bout that.**

 **~Kinzupa~**


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